No Big Announcement Presser For Christy....What Is She Afraid Of?

AllThePotentialCaucusRevoltsThatFit

NoFallElectionVille

As I mentioned the other day, the many, many dots above the 50% line in the middle of this graph, which include, for example, all three Richmond ridings, must have scared the crap out of Mdme. Clark's strate(r)gists.

And now, clearly, their own internal numbers must be telling them that the old stand-by's (e.g. Public School Teachers Are Evil!) are not enough to get them over the hump in the short term given that the majority of the folks living in many of those ridings in the middle (class) part of that graph will never be able to afford to send their kids to private school.

No matter how hard the Fraser Institute tries to make them do it.

So.

I am not surprised, especially when you factor in how much of her caucus must be scared even more crapless than her strategists, that Mdme Clark suddenly announced that she would not be calling a general election this fall.

What I did find surprising, however, was how she, who never met a camera or microphone she didn't like, actually went about making the announcement, as reported by Sean Holman:

Tonight (Wednesday), in interviews with select media outlets, Premier Christy Clark announced she won't be hitting the hustings until May 2013.....

Which begs the following question.....

What, exactly, is Christy Clark and/or her strategists so afraid of that they will not allow her to face an off-the-reservation media member or two that might actually ask her a direct question?

And, as a follow-up, I'd sure like to get a complete list of that 'select group' of media outlets that she did talk to.

Why?

Well....

Then I'd know for sure who the friendlies are for future reference.

OK?

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Of course, it is very possible that, if the rock that is the GordonCampbellLegacy government's polling numbers keeps falling past, say, Christmas, that caucus may no longer be hers to command....After all, if they could mount a revolt against the Gord, it's hard to imagine they couldn't do the same against Mdme. Clark....And, if you ask me, it is likely this fear that is driving her constant calls to her supporters to send her money, more than the party itself's actual need for cash given that they can always just go to the heavy-hitter well when the going gets tough....

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One-Two-Three-Four....Are We In A Class War?

ThisIsNotAFeistSong
GordonCampbell'sTrueLegacyVille


At least a couple of more folks in the Lotuslandian Bloggodome today began to wonder if, perhaps, the HST referendum vote breakdown was all about class.

****

First it was Ian Reid, who used the recent Ipsos-(no relation)Reid poll numbers to make his point:

Ipsos Reid released a poll this morning on the HST Referendum. The first question perfectly describes why the yes side carried the day, despite being outspent about 40 to 1.

1. In your opinion, what will be the impact of scrapping the HST and returning to the GST/PST system on each of the following? Select one response per row.

	Positive Impact	Negative Impact	Neutral/No real impact	Don’t Know
You and your family	43%	25%	24%	8%
The overall BC economy	17%	49%	20%	14%

43% said scrapping the tax would be good for them and their family. And a similar 49% said it would be bad for business. In other words those voting to scrap the tax voted for their personal economic interests ahead of the BC economy......

{snippety doo-dah}

...People didn’t vote against BC’s eonomy, They didn’t vote against “economic experts” as the Globe suggested this morning. They didn’t vote against rich people.

They voted in their own interest.

And isn’t that what you are supposed to do?

Now I get what Ian is saying.

But even if they did it only in isolation, in terms of their own situations and interests (ie. no one was out to deliberately 'screw' someone else), it still means that a whole lot of folks were voting by socio-economic class.

****

Second, Paul Willcocks invoked both the riding income level/voter preference correlation and the I-R poll results cited by Mr. Reid above to come to the conclusion that this just might signal a real seismic shift in public opinion:

The HST referendum result might signal a greater political shift, something beyond a tax revolt or anger over an arrogant, untrusted government.

The idea of class-based politics, for want of a better term, after being considered largely irrelevant for the last 60 years, could matter once again...

****

Now.

This is all fine and good.

And as I've already said a bunch of times, I really do think it mattered in this specific instance of the HST referendum where the folks who were personally affected the most did vote to get rid of an egregious tax shift while folks that were more well-off, who the tax shift affected much less severely, were happy to vote to keep it. And I also figure that lots of the latter group voted to keep the tax because they perceived that they would be contributing to an enhancement of government revenue that would contribute to the public's greater good.

So.....

It is going to be interesting to see if the majority of British Columbians in the middle (class?) can still be, like our brethern to the South, bamboozled into voting in their own worst interests in the future.

Because if they refuse to head back over to the 'screw me, please!' side of the fence I do think it could really affect general election voting patterns.

To be honest, though, I dunno which way it will go.

However, a number of folks in the Lotuslandian bloggodome including now, Harvey Oberfeld, have noted that the propaganda pushback has truly begun in earnest to try and re-herd folks into that mystical corp-friendly swampland where their own worst interests lie.

Which is encouraging.

What is more discouraging, however, is the fact that this transparent propaganda pushback is not being called out for what it is by the proPundits who are most able to move (or stabilize) public opinion in this province.

Which, I suppose, in and of itself, probably says something pretty important.

OK?

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The Realer Than Reel Reason Vancouver Is No Longer #1

ShwashbuckleThis

SwordplayVille

I've really got the answer now.

And it has nothing to do with Malahat Mountain, slippery bike lanes or the way a certain very fine civic politician keeps losing her train of thought every time a gust of wind musses her hair.

No.

Instead, it all has to do with the Lotuslandian end-of-life times and death of Mr. Errol Flynn.

How do I know this?

Because Ottawa Citizen reporter and real live corp-free amateur blogger Glen McGregor has gotten his hands on the full (i.e. not just the front page, which has long been on display at the fantastic Vancouver Police Museum) summary of the former Captain Blood's autopsy.

It makes for some interesting (or grisly, depending on your POV) reading, and not just with respect to the state of the body at the time of death in October of 1959.

And, included is the following passage from a good Dr. Gould who was 'taking care' of Mr. Flynn during his last minutes on earth:

"I administered 50 milligrams of demerol intravenously with the patient stealing (sic) and supporting himself against table. He obtained considerable relief almost immediately, but elected to remain standing with his back against the patio doorway, which seemed to further ease the discomfort…

At approximately 6:45, his companion Miss Aadland came running to me, saying he had suddenly collapsed, that his colour was poor and that he had apparently stopped breathing. I immediately went to his aid and while commencing to examine him, Miss Aadland pulled a box of amyl nitrate ampoules from her purse and quickly broke one under his nose..."

Wow.

Who'd a thunk it.

After all, I dunno about you but I had no idea that way, way before we got smart and got nurses to help folks keep from offing themselves when they do the 'steel and support' dance that we actually had at least one physician in town who may have done exactly the opposite with a very (in)famous visitor who may or may not have been on the lam with his very young companion at the time.

______

For those a wee bit confused, I call Mr. McGregor 'McSushiboy21' in the side-bar blog scroll because the rice roll-up moniker is the one that he, himself, used to use before he blew the whistle on a certain Sun News anchor's shenanigans not long ago.

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HST Referendum Rebound....Make The Public Pay!

CollectivePunishments'RUs

GordonCampbellLegacyGovernmentVille

Well, well, well....

In addition to the previously predicted demonizing of public school teachers, which is their patented, bogus 'wedge-issue-on-a-silver platter' that they have whipped out in the past to move public opinion when required, it looks like the GordonCampbellLegacy government has also decided to collectively punish the public for voting against the HST.

And to kick start the wurlitzer, the GordonCampbellLegacists have gone to their 'middle-of-the-road' man, and Progressive's 1A horse in the not-long-past Legacy party's leadership derby, Mr. George Abbott, who recently outlined the 'one-two, punch 'em in the head, hard' strate(r)gy on a conference call with reporters that was captured for posterity by the Black Press' Dan Ferguson.

Here is Mr. Ferguson's lede:

Education minister George Abbott kept using variations of the word "challenge" during a half-hour telephone conference call with reporters on Tuesday to discuss the coming school year.

"It may be a somewhat more challenging school year," the minister said.

He was talking specifically about the deadlocked contract talks with teachers, but he sounded equally gloomy about the impact of the HST defeat on funding for new schools in Langley and Surrey, where population growth in some neighbourhoods has outpaced school construction.

"It [the HST defeat] adds an additional dimension into what is a challenging situation," the minister said.

There is a need for capital investment, he added, but it won't be easy to fund.

Even without the loss of revenue from the HST, the drop in revenues created by the international economic "meltdown" has forced the government to tighten its belt, Abbott warned.

"It is not a time we can be expansive when it comes to spending," he said.

"We don't have that choice."....

Did you get that?

Voting to get rid of the HST means that the GordonCampbellLegacy Government may be forced to make the (allegedly) tough choice to stop making capital investments in building things like, say, oh I dunno.....

Schools.

****

Meanwhile.

We are still paying millions extra in carrying charges for those gas guzzling German slow ferries for no good reason at all....

And we are still paying hundreds of millions to throw a carpet over BC Place for absolutely no good reason at all.....

And, perhaps most egregious of all, we are still paying billions for IPP power being produced, for absolutely no fathomable reasonable whatsoever, by the Legacy's most-favoured friends and political uncles....

Tough collective punishment choices, indeed, Mr. Abbott.

____

And please understand that the minions and minders of GordonCampbellLegacy government Ministers do not set-up conference calls with reporters to 'accidentally' unleash viscious one-two propaganda punches to the collective public's head by mistake/not on purpose...OK?

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Top 5 Reasons Why Vancouver Is No Longer Number 1

RankingSchmanking/WeAreNotTanking

MountainsOfSillyCaucasusVille

No. 5....Bike lanes get slippery when it rains.

No. 4....Dog park poop bag stations do not glow in dark.

No. 3....Fairview slopes still steep.

No. 2....Libraries still open.

No. 1....Mayor refused to shovel white stuff at top of Malahat Mountain during Snowmageddon...What was he thinking???!!!

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Of course, the real story here is the fact that people even pay attention to this kind of arbitrary codswallop when it is clear that the criteria used to come up with such silly rankings are clearly so bogus as to be laughable.....But, then again, they don't call it a 'herd' media for nothing....

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After He, The Deluge.

WhenYouStillLoveYourWildYears

TheyProbablyReallyWereGloriousDaysVille

For a while there Bob Mould was pretty much everywhere.

Heckfire, he even showed up for more than half-an-hour with Stephen Quinn recently who was, unfortunately, not at his best filling in for Jian Ghomeshi on CBC's 'Q'.

Why was this all happening, you may be asking yourself, especially given that Husker-Du, or as Mr. Mould still calls them, 'Hooskers', packed it in way more than twenty years ago?

Well, it turns out that Mr. Mould has written a book about his life before, during, and after the seminal turn-of-the '80's Midwestern/DIY punk-band of true, raw, explosive power and fury that almost, but not quite, made it really big before it exploded and vapourized almost without a trace, except of course for the diamond hardcore core that was soon everywhere without any rust or fade away of any kind whatsoever....

And he was out and about with a vengeance flogging it.

The book and his life, but not the band, I mean.

And it turns out that Mr. Mould has had a heck of an interesting life, a life more rugged, individualistic and boot-strappingly successful than any Marlboro Man could ever possibly imagine.

Anyway....

This guy whose stuff I came across because he too likes reading Mr. Beer 'N Hockey's wordsmithing (that's the way the Interwebz works!), Nazz Nomad, wrote an interesting review of Mr. Mould's book, almost in real time, as he was reading it.

Here's a bit of that review from Nazz, who himself is a real musician in a real life DIY band:

"Currently, I am reading and enjoying Bob Mould's auto-bio"See A Little Light". A fine book, not as heavy on the soul searching as I woulda thought, given his cathartic oeuvre of music, but some good insights nonetheless. He doesn't savage Grant Hart as much as you would expect, given their post-Husker relationship. Actually, he seems to think less of Greg Norton- basically describing him as superfluous to Hu-Du (except for his driving abilities)....

{snip}

...I met Bob "back in the Hu Du days" a couple of times (and exchanged a couple of e-mails back and forth with him a few years ago) and he was always really really nice (as were Grant Hart and Greg Norton), so the "monstrous" anti-social behavior he describes in the book I never witnessed. There are some good insights into the Hu-Du songwriting and recording history, and I suspect the rest of the book will do the same for Sugar and his solo work....

{snippety doo-dah}

...It's also really cool to read his thoughts on some of the great shows that I saw the Huskers play- they were some amazing times for me, and it's always great to think about those old shows when both Bobby and I had alot more hair!....

{snippety doodle-dandy}

I am relieved this isn't a "grouchy" look at his past- I hate those kind of "I hated every moment of my life" books. For example, I worshipped The Ramones, but after reading the various "tell alls" that were written about the "brudders", my memories of all the great times I had at their shows and listening to their music are a bit ruined since I know what miserable people they were.

Despite some rocky self hating moments, Bob at 50 seems to be a happy, well adjusted guy. Good for him!

As you might imagine, given that I am a 5/8th's done (if I'm lucky) guy myself who tries to look both forward and backward in an effort put things in perspective, even if it is, dare I mention it, often just a wee bit digressive, I had to leave Nazz a comment to his fine review/post.

Here's a bit of it:

"...I, too, found it interesting how gentle Mould went on (Drummer and co-creative force Grant) Hart and the derisiveness he had for (Greg) Norton's choice to play more golf than bass well before the break-up.

I also found his description of how he might have pushed too hard on tune choices such that it squelched overall band creativity to be fascinating and a reasonable measure of his efforts to be honest.

Finally, I really dug the fact that he still considers Hooskers (as he calls it) to have been the very best band of its time.

And ya, when he talked about how they worked together when they were at their furious peak... Well, that was exhilarating to contemplate - Even now, twenty five years later."

_____

I didn't mean to knock Mr. Quinn specifically, above, because he often does much better work than most of his fellow MoCo denizens. It's just that it was more of a fanzine/lifestyle interview bit which was fine, but it dealt very rudimentarily with the actual music and, more importantly to my mind because I'm deeply interested in it, especially when it is so completely DIY/fresh outta nowhere, there was absolutely no discussion of the actual process of Mr. Mould's music making itself. If you want to hear a little about the latter I highly recommend Mould's long form interview with WBEZ's DeRogatis and Kot, which you can find here.

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HST Referendum Result Explained...

Data?WeDon'tNeedNoStinkin'Data!

ConventionalWisdomVille

...Those With Less Income Feel Regressive Consumption Tax The Most.

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Update: At bottom of post

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The graph above was put together by Iglika Ivanova of the progressive 'Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' think-tank thingy.

The link is here, and the data sources can be found here.

That's some correlation....

****

Of course, the extremes on that graph are probably split pretty much straight down the chasm that is true LINO/Dipper party divide.

But I bet there is a whole lot in the middle of that curve, especially those points high up on the Y-axis in said middle (class ridings), that is scaring the crap out of a few 'coalition' strate(r)gists right about now.

_____

And there was a very good discussion about the potential for Dipper inroads into ridings with a significant middle-class/ethnic representation on PublicEye Radio yesterday...You can listen to that here, starting at about the 55 minute mark.

Update 6:00pm Monday: As we predicted they would last Friday, the business uncertainty 'scare' stories have now begun in earnest....When you see, hear or read them please remember that the Campbell/Falcon/Clark/McLean government has known for months and months and months that British Columbians were likely going to vote to extinguish the HST...Thus, any and all 'uncertainty' is entirely the fault of said government. Or, put another way, it is disingenuous at best and plain insulting in reality to keep blaming the dumb/poor/too-stupid-for-their-own-good electorate that voted against the duplicitous Campbell/Falcon/Clark/McLean tax shift that was originally foisted on them as being revenue neutral.

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After The Gold Rush....Where To Find New Revenue In A Post-HST B.C.

AllTheWaterThatCanNoLongerBeCarried

GermanSUVVille

Now that we know that the richiest of the Richie Rich ridings in British Columbia voted, pretty much overwhelmingly, to keep the HST, maybe they, together with their neighbour and all around swell guy, Mr. Bill Good, can tell their very finest-of-the-fine Finance Minister that they would be happy to do their part to raise tax revenues in a post-HST world.

How could they possibly do this you may be asking yourself?

Well, they could go back to the future and start paying a wee little bit extra themselves, starting, perhaps, with that 3% they used to pay on the majority of the cars lined up in their circular driveways (ie. those vehicles with a sticker price over $55,000).

Why?

Because, as another of their team's finest purveyors of Smart Alliance-backed 'conventional' wisdom, Ms. Alise Mills, who has also done some truly important almost, but perhaps not quite, tax revenue generating as an online gambling business promoter, told CBC's BC Almanac listeners Friday afternoon, consumption taxes are, you know....

Progressive!

****

Heckfire.

Removing that 3% luxury tax was such a boon to the sale of all those Unicorns....errrr....German SUV's that, back in the weeks just after the HST was introduced last summer, the President of the New Car Dealers Association of British Columbia actually crowed about it:

By Blair Qualey,
President and CEO of the New Car Dealers Association of BC

"With the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax in British Columbia on July 1, some misinformation has surfaced as related to the HST and its affect on new car purchases. In fact, the new HST has zero effect on the amount of tax that will be paid on a new car, and some consumers will even pay less for their vehicle under the new tax rules.

New car dealers across BC are receiving phone calls from consumers who are concerned that the new blended tax will make a new car unobtainable. The reality is that both the GST and PST, which are blended together to form the new HST, were already charged on all new vehicle purchases prior to the introduction of the blended tax.

This means that the total tax we must charge on a new vehicle remains exactly the same – 12 per cent – as it did prior to July 1.

Some new vehicle consumers will actually find savings with the HST when they visit our showrooms, in that its introduction means the elimination of the vehicle “luxury tax” of up to 3 per cent on new cars worth more than $55,000...."

So.

Again, Mr. Good and neighbour friends, please think of the children and ask your Finance Minister, which so many of you have help to buy and pay for, to do your part for all of them.

After all, as your Shillophants have been telling us for some time now (ie. way before Ms. Style/Mills crossed over from online gambling boosting to fact-challenged/host-unchecked CorpMedia political punditry in earnest), consumption taxes really are the most progressive.

Right?

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And I must note, as is so often the case, Norm Farrell was way out front on this one.

Graphical representation of riding income to voting preference correlation can be found here.

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HST Aftershocking.....Where's Johnny?

ACoalitionWillNotUnravel

IfNobodyYanksTheThreadsVille

As a reader points out in the comments to the post directly below, Mdme. Premier Clark's use of the term 'Free Enterprise Party' in her Email to supporters is really a dog whistle to those Big and little 'C' conservatives who walk amongst her that they are all in this together with the so-called centrists (ie. the Used and Luxury Car Sales Bund?*) that she, herself, allegedly represents.

Me, I figure this is also the best signal we have so far that she and her inner circle are likely still thinking of a snap election.

In other words, it's not really Dix and the Dippers they have to worry about, in isolation, in the short term.

Instead, it is the potential bleed, which could quickly become a hemorrhage, to the BC Conservatives.

So.

Given all that....

Where the heckfire is John Cummins these days?

Hang on a moment while I go search the Google-Cache....

****

OK.

I'm back.

And there is very little out there.

But here's a little something from the (notso)Giant98:

"The leader of the BC Conservative party, who admitted voting "no" to keep the HST, says he was not surprised by today's vote to turf the tax.

But John Cummins says he was caught off guard by the gap between "yes" and "no" votes, which was almost 10 points...."

Interesting that, no.

Because, in addition to admitting that he was caught like a deer in the headlights re: The Result, Mr. Cummins also admitted that he personally voted 'no'.

In other words, the leader of the B.C. Conservative Party voted to place more tax on the backs of rank-and-file British Columbians.

Which is interesting, given, what is written, right now, on his party's HST-Free Front Page....

Notice that wee bit within the red box, which I added for emphasis....

(the box, not the words within it)

Ha!

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*Speaking of the Luxury Car/West Vancouver/Unicorn Sales Bund....Don't they already have their exemptions in place even WITH the HST?....

By the way....Norman Farrell is really on fire this weekend, asking all the questions that the CorpMedia should have, but did not during and after all the kerfuffle...

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The Two Faces Of Christy Clark

ReeseWitherspoonIsNotOurPremier

FlickThisVille

Yesterday, when the stinger-free hive mind that is BC's Legislative Press Gallery tried, ineffectually, to get Ms. Christy Clark to state whether or not she had any intention of dropping the writ for a snap, crackle, pop-tart* election this fall in the wake of the HST referendum result, she easily dodged their attempts to do so.

In fact, she even went so far as to belittle the buzzing flies by stating that they seemed to think more about elections than she did.

Ironically, at that very moment Ms. Clark's strate(r)gists were busy sending out blast E-mails to all her supporters.

Those E-mails essentially said two things.

First, "We screwed up!"....

Dear Supporter,

Well, the HST referendum is behind us and, while I am disappointed in the result, I wanted to share with you some thoughts about where we go from here.

I think we all owe a special debt of gratitude to Kevin Falcon, our Minister of Finance. Kevin worked tirelessly to consult with the public to make the case for the improved HST — we would not have come as close as we did without his smarts, energy and leadership.

As I just informed the media, we are returning to the PST with the exemptions that existed prior to the introduction of the HST. That is what people voted for and that is what will happen....

Second "The NDP leader's big-bad union bosses are after us, so....Send us money! Right now!"....

...Adrian Dix is spending his time traveling the province attacking me and our government. Their (sic) union bosses have now joined in with negative TV ads. We have to fight back. I hope you will click here to make a secure donation of $25, $50 or $100 today. With so much on the line, every dollar helps.....

So, enquiring minds, not of the hive, would like to know...

Why, Mdme Premier, do you need money?

And, perhaps more to the point...

Who in their right mind would send it to you right now?

Oh....

Wait...

There was a third thing in that note from the Premier to her dearest supporters.

Which was, "Do....Not....Forget. Everything, absolutely everything, is all Adrian Dix', circa 1998's, fault, because he loves taxes and we hate 'em....Well, we hate 'em if you ignore what I wrote at the beginning of this message"...

...The stakes are tremendously high, especially with our economy in jeopardy due to the global situation. We need to act boldly because the alternative is an NDP government led by Adrian Dix, one of the main architects of the disastrous economic policies of the 1990s. It is a choice between our free enterprise approach that brings BC together so we all win, or a high tax, free spending plan that tries to divide our province into winners and losers. The worst part is that their approach really means we all lose...

Irony really is still alive in Lotusland.

Right?

______

We thank Ian Reid and friends for publishing Ms. Clark's missive to the creme de la creme (ie. those that voted, in droves, for a regressive tax shift that would have significantly raised revenues without affecting their finances in any more than the most infinitesimal of ways....Norman Farrell has an excellent post up demonstrating how The Creme was all for the HST while those less well-off (ie. those whose disposable income is, right now, being significantly affected by the tax shift) voted in droves against it which, if you ask me (but not the local CorpMedia because they're too busy buzzin' around the Premier's eyes like flies), is the real story here.

*Of course, those pop tarts....You know, the ones with all of the snap and the crackle that the twinkle in the Preem's jaundiced eyes can muster would have to be whole-wheat, because we must think of the children! Especially all those wee little ones from slightly less fortunate families who don't have Land Rovers given that we don't quite have the cash now to give them all ponies (unicorns are, apparently, out of the question now that West Vancouverites can no longer get their extra revenue by ripping it, strip-by-strip, from the backs of those in Vancouver Kingsway).

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Get Smart! Is It Just A Rounding Error, Or...

...Another Way To Shave Team Christy An Extra Point Off The Spread?

Because the number is 54.73%, as so many news organs like to keep spouting.

Do you remember us ever going to two decimal places in the past?

Sheesh.

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Interestingly, the Ceeb itself has gone to great lengths, in an unbylined web piece, to demonstrate how the good Mr. Smart was really, really tough on Ms. Clark re: Fall Election at her Presser this afternoon....What's that all about Alfie?...Is the MoCo trying to demonstrate that there is no conflictyness in Mr. Smart staying on as their TeeVee Ledge guy?....I mean, it's not like Mr. Smart couldn't do something crazy like just ask his life partner the question over the croissants and no-fat latte's at tomorrow (or, earlier this?) morning's breakfast.....Right?

HST Referendum Result....Is It A Class War?

AllTheBreakdownsThatFit

RidingSplitsVille

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Update 11:30am Friday: Look, when you hear all the codswallop (that has already started) about how all this chaos and uncertainty is going to be a horrible, terrible very bad series of days for business, please remember that there is only one group of folks to blame for said uncertainty (and it is NOT the voting public)...Because if The Birdman had been doing his actual job for the last six months a real, fully inclusive, Plan B would have started, immediately, at 11:16am this morning...Remember it has been he, as FINANCE MINISTER, who refused to tell us whether or not the PST exemptions would return if we voted YES....OK?...

Double-Secret Probation Update: Friday 2:30pm....Meanwhile, while the LINO's burn, Mr. Baldrey fiddles with (meaningless) numbers just as Ian Reid whips out a Stradivarius.

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Never mind the aggregate 55/45.....

How about the ridings?

For example...

Van Kingsway (Ponies)...72% Extinguish!....

WestVan (Unicorns)....65% TaxPeopleNotCorporations!

I figure that, when The Birdman is done with his Presser (will he now tell us, specifically, about the fate of PST exemptions?)....Ms Clark will pick.....Ponies!!!

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Ledgies and Watercarrier say it breaks Lib vs Dipper by riding...But here's the thing...Huge Dipp swing in pop vote...Throw in 5% Cummins siphon and it would appear that ClarkCampbell govt may be doomed....

Here's a question worth pondering....Which current and/or former Campbell/Clark government Cabinet members will already be heading for Drunk Island by noon o'clock today.

Finally....Hey!....Where'd all those stories about the massively redacted BC Ferries FOI release go?...And here I thought all of the cost increases being passed along to us and/or the people who will be working less or losing their jobs were based purely on fuel and salaries...

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HST Referendum...The Final Countdown

AllTheWaitingThatFits

WithoutOldMagazinesVille

9:45am...The Dean notes that two years ago 85% hated the HST, but not now?...So, is this an expectation changing game?

10:00am...Rob Shaw notes that Bill Barisoff is nowhere near the ledge...his staff will receive results...Run away!

10:15am...All this chatter about 'collective wisdom' of the YES result...Where is that coming from...Why doesn't one of the insiders actually give us something with hard, on the ground numbers..

10:25am...The Dean now singing the 'Na-Na-Na-Goodbye' chant on the Tweet mobile...

10:37am...The assumption is that all the votes have already been counted...But are they still furiously working and piling up the paper cuts removing all that envelope armour?

10:40am...Will be interesting to get the 'ballots rejected' numbers...

10:45am...Everywhere it's all just blah, blah, blah....Thing is, seems to be way, way more interest in this than most generals....Kind of interesting that....Maybe we do like being Finance Minister for a day...Heck, even Miss Oh Four the Six Pack is now weighing in....

10:50am...Interesting how, as the moment gets close, the TwitVerse always seems to jump the shark...Kinda like how the Watercarrier goes to the phones for a plant.

10:55...Interesting that CampbellClark gov open data apparatus have used the HST-Ref as wurlitzer cover for the release of heavily redacted BC Ferries ad FOI data...

10:57...The Dean says..."It's the Threshold, Stupid!"....I have to agree with him on that one...

10:59am...Uncle Bob Mackin re-orders Twitverse by reminding folks that we may not be doomed to repeat history...

11:01am...Elvis....errrr....Mr. Craig James is now in the building....Poor Sean Leslie actually thinks the Speaker is there....Apparently, it will The Birdman who announces Plan B...Will he actually be forced to state whether or not ALL PST exemptions will return?

11:03am...Ian Bailey warms up fingers....Lets us know that CClark will follow Birdman...Unicorns?...Ponies?....Whole Wheat Twinkies for All?...

11:05am...ElxnBC Riding by riding numbers will be here...

11:07am...When does Elvis...errr....Mr. James' new job start again..?

11:10am...Do the Pols in the Preem's office already have the riding-by-riding breakdowns...Will this influence whether she announces Pink or Purple Unicorns....And where?

11:12am...Apparently Elvis has to go see the AG (who is that anyway) before the announcement...Who is pushing the website button?....

11:13am...Ledgie Boys and Watercarrier now going around and around and around about how this is all about new revenue....Sheesh!!!!!

11:14am...Results on way to Media/Press Gallery....Looks like there are Press Releases...Thanks Elvis!

11:15am....55% Yes....Let's see the breakdowns will be fun to compare WestVan with say, Kingsway, cause that will tell us whether it will be Unicorns v. Ponies...

11:17am...OK... Breakdowns are up...Van Kingsway (Ponies)...72% Extinguish!....WestVan (Unicorns)....35% Yes....

Done....

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What Will Ms Clark Do If....

HowManyNewscyclesCanYouFit

OnTheHeadOfAPinVille

....Say, John Cummins, comes up with a real Plan 'B' for the proMedia herd this afternoon?

Regardless, it would seem that the time for unicorns, ponies and whole wheat twinkees is over.

Because if the sitting Premier does not stop using Shane Mills'* Rovian survival strategy of playing it cutesy with the regionals out on the hustings for photo-op/probing question avoidance purposes and get down to work she is doomed.

Which, of course, she may be anyway.

Especially if Mr. Cummins includes a Plan C.

Like, perhaps, a call for a full BC Rail inquiry.

Or some such thing.

_______

And if I hear one more pundit say that the HST-Ref is 'too close to call' in the total absence of any actual, you know, data (and, yes, I'm looking at NRuff this morning), I am going to scream......

*Or whoever in that office came up with it....Pammy?....Naw....She wouldn't do it...She hates that yucky political stuff...

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Hey, Mr. Hahn!...Show Us The Proof That Your Ballooning Deficit Is Due To Tourists

AllTheFact-FreeFalderalAndFiddleDeeDeeThatFits

FerryVille

So....

BC Ferries CEO, and Million Dollar Man, Mr. David Hahn says his rising deficit is not being driven by his sky-high ticket and 'reservation' prices that British Columbia residents will no longer pay.

Instead, he says that is massive decrease in ridership that is reducing his revenue has been caused, at least in part, by the fact that American tourist traffic is way down.

The following is from the CBC's report on the matter, but this kind of stenography can be found at pretty much any and all of the CorpMedia organ grinder monkey sites:

"...On Wednesday BC Ferries CEO David Hahn announced the provincially run corporation is looking at cutting the extra Friday and Sunday sailings on major routes during the off season to meet a forecast $35 million budget deficit this year.

Hahn says passenger trips have dropped to a 20-year low and vehicle traffic has dropped to an 11-year low. He blames the drop on rising fuel costs, a slow economy and a strong Canadian dollar that's keeping tourists away this summer...."

To which I say to Mr. Hahn.....

Prove it.

Right now.

How?

Release the data to your shareholders that your shareholders can no longer request by FOI because you are a so-called 'private' company.

Specifically, show us the data pertaining to where, exactly, the people who made reservations in the summers of, say 2009, 2010 and 2011 reside.

And if there is not a disproportionate drop in folks from the Excited States making reservations Mr. Hahn he might have some 'xplainin' to do.

But only, of course, if at least one of the CorpMedia scribes could actually put down their steno-pads long enough to ask a real question or two.

________

Harvey Oberfeld, who was never a stenographer back when he worked for the old-style CorpMedia, has more to say about this matter here.

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